cover image Fatal Deception

Fatal Deception

Michael Bowker. Rodale Press, $24.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-1-57954-684-7

Journalist Bowker's riveting, anecdotal look at the damage done by mining and manufacturing companies who denied the harmful effects of asbestos might have been titled ""Evil Incorporated."" Focusing largely on a vermiculite mine in bucolic Libby, Montana, Bowker shows a business that put its bottom line over its employees' health. Interviews with victims of asbestos poisoning and their survivors are interspersed with EPA reports, company memos and other sources, as Bowker charts asbestos's history, from its identification as a ""miracle mineral"" to the first signs that it might be dangerous, to the government's ineffectual policies and various companies' decisions not to inform its workers of the health risks it posed. As one asbestos plant exec is alleged to have said, it was ""the company's policy to let workers continue on the job until they quit work because of asbestosis or died of other asbestos-related disease."" Worker after worker describes how he was never told that the dust he encountered daily was poisonous: ""The asbestos was whitish-gray and my hair was pure white after work. We never wore any protective gear, except the little paper masks they gave us,"" said one worker who now has asbestosis. The personal stories make for a sad and gripping read, as Bowker, in classic muckraking style, gives voice to many who suffer from long-term exposure to asbestos and argues for a ban on asbestos products in the U.S.